Paddington Bear

Paddington Bear, also known as Paddington Brown, is an anthropomorphic bear in British children's literature. He first appeared on 13 October 1958 in A Bear Called Paddington by British author Michael Bond. He has been featured in 29 books written by Bond, the last of which, Paddington at St. Paul's, was published posthumously in 2018. The books have been illustrated by Peggy Fortnum, David McKee, R. W. Alley, and other artists. The friendly spectacled bear from "darkest Peru"—with his old hat, battered suitcase, duffel coat and love of marmalade sandwiches—has become a classic character in British children's literature. Paddington is always polite—addressing people as "Mr", "Mrs", and "Miss", but rarely by first names—and kindhearted, though he inflicts hard stares on those who incur his disapproval. He has an endless capacity for innocently getting into trouble, but is known to "try so hard to get things right". After being discovered in London Paddington station by the Brown family, he was adopted and named "Paddington Brown", as his original name in bear language was too hard for the (human) Browns to pronounce. Paddington has become one of the most beloved British fictional characters—a Paddington Bear stuffed toy was chosen by British tunnellers as the first item to pass through to their French counterparts when the two sides of the Channel Tunnel were linked in 1994, and the Bear appeared with Queen Elizabeth II in a pre-recorded comedy segment for the Platinum Party at the Palace in 2022—and the Paddington books have been translated into 30 languages across 70 titles, with a total of more than 30 million copies sold worldwide. As of June 2016, the Paddington Bear franchise was owned by Canal+'s StudioCanal, though Bond continued to own the publishing rights to his series, which was licensed to HarperCollins in 2017. Since his first appearance on the BBC in 1976, Paddington Bear has been adapted for television, films, the stage and commercials. Television adaptations include Paddington, broadcast from 1976 to 1980. The critically acclaimed and commercially successful films Paddington (2014) and Paddington 2 (2017) were both nominated for the BAFTA Award for Outstanding British Film. A third film in the series, Paddington in Peru, was released in 2024. A stage adaptation, Paddington: The Musical, premiered at the Savoy Theatre in the West End in 2025.